Lim believes private businesses are the backbone of the economy and can be a catalyst for social change.

To this end, he has worked to develop a company that helps businesses achieve their growth and improvement goals.

In the last eight years, Magnetic Alliance says it has added more than $1.17 billion in revenue for companies across 85 industries in Australia and overseas, including a number of small rural and regional businesses.

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Lim and Magnetic Alliance have won a stack of awards, most recently APAC Magazine Australia’s award for the nation’s leading firm for business growth and development.

In June, Lim was also named one of InDaily’s 40 Under 40, which recognises the best and brightest young business people in South Australia.

What is the single most important lesson you have learnt in your business career so far?

I’ve learnt that if you have the right people and culture, even if you’ve only recently started in business, you can create something out of nothing. On the other hand, the wrong people and poor culture can ruin even the most successful of businesses and turn your something into worse than nothing. I’ve personally seen business value get destroyed many times over in my business career because of the wrong people/culture.

What do you believe are the strengths of doing business in South Australia?

South Australia is a great place to do business for many reasons. Logistically, there is a lot of time saved due to low traffic and close proximity of everything you need. Those hours saved on the road can be spent working on the business.

South Australia is also a great testing ground for new developments because of its more conservative and tougher nature – what is proven to work in South Australia can work practically everywhere else. It’s a great market testing ground!

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What do you believe are the weak points of conducting business in South Australia?

We need more business infrastructure; we need to attract more talent and more investment. We need to be known for something, but we’re not.

There is an opportunity to make SA known as Australia’s tech city. It’s already a great place to live. If we invest in our city, we can bring the best talent here and make SA the Silicon Valley of Australia.

Do you see your future in South Australia?

Absolutely. Part of what drives me to improve and grow businesses is that I want a vibrant community to live in. I want to start creating success stories in my backyard, and make it an even more amazing place to live and work.

People have to take a pay cut to stay in SA, but it doesn’t need to be that way. We can make this state as good as any other in terms of career opportunities. I want to create a thriving business community to fuel our economic engine. That is one of my community-driven goals.

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Tech is the future. Make SA Australia’s tech hub. Better yet, make it the tech capital of the Southern Hemisphere. There is nothing to stop us from doing this. Invest in our tech infrastructure, our people and capabilities. Young leaders will not only stay, but flock here from around the globe.

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